Civilisation V's Aussie Mod Now Has A Fully-Realised Henry Parkes, And It's Awesome

If you're a Civ player, you may remember that last year an enterprising Steam modder created an Australian mod which added our great nation into the game. Now, a year later, fearless leader Henry Parkes finally has a voice.

The developer said that it has taken a while to realise the 3D model of Henry Parkes, but hopes it inspires others.

"Making custom 3D leaders in Civilization V have been notoriously difficult, and it's only within the past year that we've actually figured out how to do it. It's hoped that by releasing this leaderscreen, it will encourage others to come to the Civilization V modding scene to take a stab at creating their own leaderheads," he wrote.

The update was pushed live yesterday, and includes some other great traits unique to the Australian Civilisation.

Here are some of the other features that were added with the update:

Boundless Plains to Share: Settlers found Puppeted cities that generate +1 Tourism. +1 Tourism for each outgoing Naval Trade Route. Cities that generate +2 Tourism or more expand Cultural Borders twice as fast.
Prime Minister: This Australian unique Great Person replaces the Great Writer. It provides political quotes as Great Works of Writing and when it is acquired all non-puppeted coastal cities receive +1 Tourism per owned land tile outside workable limits.
Digger Infantry: The Digger is an Australian unique unit, replacing the Great War Infantry. It receives bonuses in coastal territory and foreign territory, as well as the Cover I promotion. This unit may be upgraded from Workers and upgrades to Mechanized Infantry, and does not obsolete at Plastics.

Comments

Parkes is an interesting choice. There's no question he was influential in the establishment of federation, but he was never a national leader, only a state premier. I can't think of any other civs in the game whose in-game leader wasn't also a national leader at some point.

I'll have to do some more research on Gandhi, I was under the impression he held a de facto role as national ruler for about a year after the British brought in the Indian Independence Act. I'm a bit weak on Indian history though.

Theodora's rule is an interesting one but it's widely (though not unanimously) considered she was Empress Regnant, leading in her own right with Justinian as a co-ruler rather than a sole Emperor. Her influence as a leader over the Byzantine empire was arguably stronger than that of her husband.

Boudicca led the Iceni Celts directly (as well as a neighbouring tribe) after her husband's death, including her uprising against the Romans. She didn't lead for a long time, but she was as close to a national leader as the Celtic tribes ever really had.

Wu Zetian was an Empress Regnant for 15 years, she ruled in her own right.

As others have posted, it's a little analogous to the Gandhi situation. Parkes basically built the idea of a federal Australia from the ground up, and that's how the Civ plays - there are benefits from leaving your cities Puppeted (representing colonies), and there are benefits to Annexing them (representing Federalisation, and before anyone asks, you don't need to build a Courthouse to do it). Parkes had a vision for Australia, and this Civ allows us to see how it would have played out.

Also, in answer to your question: Boudicca (Queen of the Iceni =/= queen of all the Celtic nations) and Dido (Considerable doubt as to her historicity). Theodora's also in something of a grey area because of the whole Justinian thing.

I noticed this reply only got approved today after I replied above, so you probably didn't get a chance to read that one.

Boudicca's leadership after her husband's death included at least two tribes, possibly more. The Celts were disparate tribes with a common linguistic link and not a whole lot else, comparable to the Germanic tribes or Australian Aboriginal tribes. There was never a leader of all the Celtic tribes in much the same way there was never a leader of all the Aboriginal tribes, but Boudicca's brief reign over a small set of allied tribes is arguably the closest to a national leader the Celts ever had. This is obviously a different case to that of Australia.

There are some general questions about the time period of Dido's escape and subsequent events, and whether she ever met Aeneas, but there's little question that she existed and was the founder and ruler of Carthage. Those details are corroborated by most of the contemporary evidence.

Theodora I also covered above. In title she was an Empress and in practice her influence was that of any other national leader.

I'm not attacking Parkes here, I don't think he needs defending. He is without doubt a highly important figure in Australian history. I just question his choice as the leader of a country that he never actually led.

It's an interesting question though: of the 28 prime ministers Australia has had, which would be the most influential, and/or the best candidate for in-game national leader? Personally I'd probably go with Menzies.

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